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NASA sent a robot to the Red Planet to listen for marsquakes

The NASA InSight spacecraft on the launch pad

NASA/Bill Ingalls

By Mika McKinnon

A trio of spacecraft blasted off from California early on the morning of 5 May and are now en route to Mars. At least, that’s the best explanation I have for that rolling growl that rattled my bones at Vandenberg Airforce Base in California. I never saw the rocket.

At 4:05 am local time on Saturday, Mars InSight launched aboard an Atlas V rocket, marking the first interplanetary launch from the west coast of North America. InSight — Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and …